Menard Completes Deep Wick Drain Installation in New Jersey

By TBM News June 12, 2017

Pittsburgh-based geotechnical firm Menard Group USA was recently awarded its second contract with one of the largest commercial real estate development companies in the country. This will be Menard’s third project in the last 12 months near the Teterboro Airport.

A new, approximately 200,000 sq ft warehouse and loading dock located in Woodridge, New Jersey, requires wick drain installation to accelerate consolidation of the soft, compressible soils under the heavy loads of the slab. This will be one of the deepest wick drain installations performed by Menard in this region, with an anticipated average depth of 125 ft below existing surface elevations.

Because of the site’s close proximity to the Teterboro Airport, coordinating installation with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will be crucial to the project’s success.

“Our rig mast must be laid down every night, and before we can raise it the next morning, the airport traffic control tower must determine if there’s enough visibility to do so safely,” says Menard Group USA President Frederic Masse. “Working next to a high-traffic airport always poses challenges – but these are the kind of challenges we love.”

The proposed site is the former home of a battery factory and is now a federally classified Capped Superfund. The purpose of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Superfund program is to identify and manage the cleanup of some of the country’s worst hazardous waste sites. Capping involves placing a cover over contaminated soils to prevent the spread of hazardous materials.

To prepare Menard crews, all field personnel were trained in OSHA 40 Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER). The Menard Safety Department also developed a rigorous, site-specific Health and Safety Plan (HASP) in coordination with the client’s Health and Safety consultant.

“When we work on sites where there’s the potential for contact with hazardous materials, Menard takes special precautions both in the planning and operations stages,” says Project Manager, J.W. Ramp. “We want to protect our workers, the environment and nearby neighborhoods.”

Wick drain installation will begin in June 2017. An estimated 4,000 wicks will be installed totaling approximately 500,000 lf.